It's a big weekend for local college football.

The White Sox are in the playoff chase, and the Bears are looking to get back in the win column on Sunday. But in between, the sports God's will provide us with plenty of local college football action on Saturday.

Let's start with Chicago's Big Ten team the Northwestern Wildcats. The undefeated "Cardiac Cats" welcome the Division FCS South Dakota Coyotes to Ryan Field this weekend.

This will be game number three of a four game home stand for Northwestern after staring the season on the road. There is no reason why the Wildcats shouldn't win this game.

On paper they have more talent and depth than the Coyotes do. Plus, Northwestern's defense has really stepped it up over the last two weeks.

They have only given up 26 points in their last two games. I expect Northwestern to walk off the field with a 4-0 record on Saturday.

Staying in the Big Ten Conference, the Fighting Illini play host to Louisiana Tech. Illinois is undefeated at home this season, their only loss was an away game at Arizona State two weeks ago.

Illinois' victories were against Western Michigan in Week 1, and Charleston Southern last week. In the case of the Illini, home is definitely where the heart is.

Tim Beckman's group has put up 68 points at Memorial Stadium in 2012, the Illini defense has only allowed one touchdown on the home turf so far.

Louisiana Tech is unbeaten this year, but I expect that to change after they encounter the Fighting Illini. The Bulldogs just don't have enough talent to keep up on the field with Illinois.

Combine that with the Illini's invincibility at home, I expect the blue and orange to win big. Up in DeKalb, the NIU Huskies will once again try their hand with a BCS team.

For the second consecutive season, the Huskies will take on the Kansas Jayhawks. Last year the Huskies traveled to Lawrence, Kansas and almost pulled off the upset.

The Jayhawks barely survived and only won by a field goal. This time Huskie Stadium is the battleground where the NIU faithful will be out in force.

Kansas has struggled this season, but with Charlie Weis calling the plays the Jayhawks average roughly 20 points per game. While I would like to see the Huskies defend their home turf just as they did against Tennessee-Martin last week..... The Huskies are just 2-6 in their last eight games against BCS schools.

This one will be a hard fought game until the very end. Finally, in prime time the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame once again take the national spotlight.

The Irish are looking for the state sweep of the two big Michigan schools, something that has not happened since 2004. Last week's victory over Michigan State on the road was huge.

But this week the challenge at home will be a little harder as the Michigan Wolverines make their way to South Bend. It'll be a battle of the quarterbacks as Notre Dame's Everett Golson goes toe-to-toe with Denard Robinson.

Golson has proven himself to be a fairly decent pocket passer this season. This is in contrast to Denard Robinson who is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in college football.

Robinson on his own has gained 400 total yards of offense in each of his last two games. This game will be decided by which defense can make the most stops.

It seems that pressuring both of these quarterbacks has been difficult for opposing defenses in recent weeks. The best part about all of these games is that they will all be televised.

Usually when it comes to Chicagoland college football, not every game makes it to television. But in this day and age of cable television and digital media, it seems easier to get television exposure.

This year Northwestern, Notre Dame, and Illinois have had all of their games televised. Let us all hope that this will be a continuing trend.

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Meet The Blogger

Gabe Salgado

Aside my columns for The Locker Room, I also write for many other outlets, and you can find me on the airwaves. I'm the sports anchor for WVON-AM's "The Sports Cypher" every Sunday night from 9pm-11pm. I'm also a sports anchor and reporter for TeleChicago TV.